BenQ PD3200U 32 inch 4K Designer Monitor Review

For months we have been looking at monitors that have been categorised as fantastic for CAD, not great for gaming. Or Gaming is superb but day to day workings suffer. What if there as a Jack of all Trades and, whilst not a total ninja at all, about as close as you could get without a small mortgage. The BenQ PD3200U is a professional monitor that hits all the right levels with images, manages 32 inches of 3840 x 2160 multitasking and can keep with the frames as long as you aren’t pushing the boat out.

As with most BenQ monitors the unit is a black plastic. There are smaller bezels than most however they are still there. Measuring around 1cm aside from the bottom of the frame which is a little thicker. To the bottom right are some touch sensitive buttons to activate and shockingly, its easy to use!

Connections around the back are a little insane, this screen has it all. For the image, there is a DisplayPort, mini DisplayPort, two HDMI 2.0 slots. For data and charging there are four USB 3.0 ports. These ports are pointing downward and a little inaccessible to the user and best used for semi-permanent connections. There are two USB ports, a headphones socket, and an SD card reader below this and closer to the edge making them handy for connecting removable media.

The BenQ PD3200U has a pair of 5w speakers. A step up from the typical 2w we have seen in other screens lately and can pump out some decent sound. Bass response is quite impressive and whilst you would be holding a rave, it will manage most light media enjoyment and background without offending your ears.

The stand has a solid connection and provides great flexibility. The screen can be adjusted to quite a height. There is also tilt, swivel, and pivot options. The BenQ PD3200U is a heavy unit however the stand allows the user to adjust them easily.

The BenQ PD3200U has a 32-inch IPS panel with 1000:1 contrast ratio, 60Hz refresh rate with 4ms response time a 4K native resolution. Somewhere standard for a 4K screen, however, it has a 10-bit interface.

BenQ PD range pride themselves on a 100% coverage of the sRGB and REC.709 gamuts, and it really looks to achieve this. Contrast and grayscale look excellent. Testing various images presented very rich blacks, and notable gray shades that other screens have had trouble with.

As the BenQ PD3200U uses IPS technology, there is a risk of both uniformity and backlight bleeding. Whilst I can say I did not notice any, I cannot say there wasn’t any. The one omission is that the screen does not include FreeSync or G-Sync. Whilst this normally results in frames stuttering or screen tearing I noticed very little interlacing and ghosting. Certainly wasn’t enough to encourage me to recommend gamers look elsewhere. Fallout 4, in 4K, might not be the latest AAA title to test with, however, it presents a meaty enough environment for any issues to present themselves.

The BenQ PD3200U is a fantastic 4K monitor due to some excellent features. This is easily the most competent performer in all fields I have tested. At the time of this review, the BenQ PD3200U is currently priced £784 on Amazon and spending that little extra will allow you to enjoy every corner of computing right now.